After the Stones and Beatles, it's Beach Boys, Clash and Sly.
Sly remains an enigmatic figure to me. There are great artists like Lennon/Macca/DYlan Jagger/Richards etc....but I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.


Sly and the Family Stone
Live at the Fillmore Eastby Joe Sweeney
17 July 2015

Sly and the Family Stone sounded like a perpetual motion machine far too powerful to ever break down.
“It was all celebration, all affirmation, a music of endless humor and delight, like a fantasy of freedom.” Greil Marcus gives this emotionally resonant description of Sly and the Family Stone’s early work in his essential 1975 dive into the ancestry of American pop music, Mystery Train. While writing his chapter on Sly, the effects of the artist’s game-changing 1971 haze-bomb There’s a Riot Going On were fresh in Marcus’ mind, lending an understandable sense of melancholy to his analysis. From this vantage point, the concepts of Sly’s prior output must have felt a bit too wide-eyed and innocent, justified only by the copious talents of the uniquely democratic ensemble that was naïve enough to actually believe that everybody is a star.

I wonder if Live at the Fillmore East would’ve changed his opinion at all. Originally planned as the follow-up to the ascendant 1968 LP Life, the album got permanently shelved after the band cranked out “Everyday People” like it was nothing, topping the charts for the first time and priming the pump for a new studio smash. Recorded over the course of two days at the New York venue in October 1968 (with a matinee and evening show each day), these tapes capture a band about to mesmerize the world with a distinctly realistic brand of positive vibes.

But enough with the “what ifs”. Epic/Legacy has released every note of those four concerts, in a set that qualifies as the first-ever Sly and the Family Stone live album. And while it probably would’ve been best experienced as a jolt of adrenaline to carry us from Life to Stand!, the 2015 Live at the Fillmore East acts as a necessary meditation on the group’s formative material, and its firm belief that earnest positivity could be funky as hell.

The four shows are pretty similar. The evening gigs are longer and more exploratory, and the occasional cover crops up – most notably a stoned, seven-minute jam on “St. James Infirmary”. But the band had clearly decided what songs it wanted to end up on the album, and that means we have to hear them performed three or four times on this collection. Yet the energy rarely lags. There are far worse things in life than listening to “Life,” with its carnival organ and parade-day horns, over and over again. Same for “Color Me True”, where Larry Graham weaves his bass line through Gregg Errico’s rhythm like a buzzing Betsy Ross. And if oldies radio has dulled your senses to “Dance to the Music”, these intensely joyful live versions breathe new life into one of pop music’s purest celebrations of humanity.

“Are You Ready”, a forgettable tune from the Dance to the Music album, appears on all four discs, and it pulses with a different energy. The hook isn’t much on paper. The horns hop up and down a rudimentary scale, seemingly just taking up space until the verse begins. But here, with Rosie Stone’s B3 chords swelling like an electric tide and Errico pummeling his kit with unfettered glee, it slays. Then Sly jumps in with four short phrases that capture the ethos of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was murdered exactly six months before these shows – “Don’t hate the black / Don’t hate the white / If you get bit / Just hate the bite.”

It’s as if these musicians were responding to the gathering storm of dreams deferred and war machines unleashed by doubling down on love, and each other. They’re playing loud, hard, and all together, resulting in a swirl of voices and guitar licks and trumpet calls and universal poetry that somehow all makes sense. We know what lies only a few years ahead for Sly: exhaustion, dope, ingenuity, obscurity, Grammy telecast infamy. But on these two days in 1968, Sly and the Family Stone sounded like a perpetual motion machine far too powerful to ever break down.

With these recordings to consider, maybe Marcus wouldn’t have described the band’s early work as a fantasy. Because good lord, is this shit real.


Live at the Fillmore East



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-04 03:09 by stupidguy2.

The gold CD edition of Riot released in 2013 in small box
with cloth flag cover sounds good,restores the couple of minutes
of silence on side one ....Classic stuff...Dirty funky released some 6 months before Exile... A must have

Another Sly must have is the 2014 release
I'm Just Like You - Sly's Stone Flower 1969-70 - Light In The Attic...
Carries the original demo of Just like A Baby which slaughters the official Riot version ....



ROCKMAN

UNCUT 219 -- August 2015



ROCKMAN

Thx fro the tip! I'll give this one a try...

It is indeed a great album.

Quote
Rockman
The gold CD edition of Riot released in 2013 in small box
with cloth flag cover sounds good,restores the couple of minutes
of silence on side one ....Classic stuff...Dirty funky released some 6 months before Exile... A must have

Another Sly must have is the 2014 release
I'm Just Like You - Sly's Stone Flower 1969-70 - Light In The Attic...
Carries the original demo of Just like A Baby which slaughters the official Riot version ....

Right,this Riot box is really worth to get.
The Filmore package as well...great stuff.

Thanx. I'll take a look/ listen.

I've seen Sly and band live in 73 at a big festival in Frankfurt.
Short but great gig.One of those you'll always remember . .

Thanks Rockman! Great stuff.
Running Away...this is probably my favorite, and can anybody tell me who is singing? Sly could do some weird things with his voice, so sometimes I can't tell who's singing what ...

[www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-08-05 02:28 by stupidguy2.

I have two older brothers that turned me on to Sly. I love his music.

Quote
stupidguy2
I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.

I agree with this -- you could add Hendrix and we can go on from there -- what constitutes genius? Takes nothing away from the majesty of Stones/Jagger/Richards or Beatles/Lennon/McCartney and so on. Anyway, as much as I love Brian Wilson I'd say it is Sly who revolutionized popular music post 1968 than any other figure. Well put James Brown in the sentence.

Regardless, such a sad tale, With Brian Wilson you have redemption. Last I saw Sly he looked like he'd come out of a coma. Smoking crack in a beat up trailer or something. After "Fresh", a wonderful record, virtually nothing. But that burst, particularly "Stand," "Riot", and "Fresh" and the singles and the live act -- that incredible live act -- are as good as anything is.

Saw him touring "Riot" and he showed! 3 hours late. Transcendant performance.

"Blood is thicker than mud...."

Sly's Buttermilk is a rip take of Stones 2120 South Michigan Avenue







ROCKMAN

Quote
Wry Cooter

Quote
stupidguy2
I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.

I agree with this -- you could add Hendrix and we can go on from there -- what constitutes genius? Takes nothing away from the majesty of Stones/Jagger/Richards or Beatles/Lennon/McCartney and so on. Anyway, as much as I love Brian Wilson I'd say it is Sly who revolutionized popular music post 1968 than any other figure. Well put James Brown in the sentence.

Regardless, such a sad tale, With Brian Wilson you have redemption. Last I saw Sly he looked like he'd come out of a coma. Smoking crack in a beat up trailer or something. After "Fresh", a wonderful record, virtually nothing. But that burst, particularly "Stand," "Riot", and "Fresh" and the singles and the live act -- that incredible live act -- are as good as anything is.

Saw him touring "Riot" and he showed! 3 hours late. Transcendant performance.

"Blood is thicker than mud...."

after fresh he has i think 5 more studio albums before 1984

Quote
Wry Cooter

Quote
stupidguy2
I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.

I agree with this -- you could add Hendrix and we can go on from there -- what constitutes genius? Takes nothing away from the majesty of Stones/Jagger/Richards or Beatles/Lennon/McCartney and so on. Anyway, as much as I love Brian Wilson I'd say it is Sly who revolutionized popular music post 1968 than any other figure. Well put James Brown in the sentence.

Regardless, such a sad tale, With Brian Wilson you have redemption. Last I saw Sly he looked like he'd come out of a coma. Smoking crack in a beat up trailer or something. After "Fresh", a wonderful record, virtually nothing. But that burst, particularly "Stand," "Riot", and "Fresh" and the singles and the live act -- that incredible live act -- are as good as anything is.

Saw him touring "Riot" and he showed! 3 hours late. Transcendant performance.

"Blood is thicker than mud...."

I agree with all this. Defining genius? That's a hard one, (I'll add Aretha and consign your suggestion of James Brown, maybe Jimi)but I think we can sense it. With guys like Sly and Brian, the work, the art seems almost like a force of nature, like outside themselves and yet totally from within. Theres a childlike quality to both of them, and a darkness. Maybe genius only burns brightly for a brief time, a burst of creativity that flames out, or empties the artist.
Sly is an underrated lyricist too..
'You can't leave cos your heart is there,
You can't stay because you've been somewhere else..'
What's fascinating to me is the dichotomy: Sly's demons, his alleged violence and criminal behavior, seeming disconnected from reality, and yet in his music, there's a joy, a hopefulness and clarity in his message.

Sometimes brilliant like Zappas Mothers of Invention and sometimes sounding like Bee Gees on speed...Lets say I got mixed emotions about Sly's Music...

2 1 2 0

Meh, Larry Graham was the real genius in that band. Sly was just a proto-hype man and is now a has-been washed up crackhead.

Quote
keefriffhard4life

Quote
Wry Cooter

Quote
stupidguy2
I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.

I agree with this -- you could add Hendrix and we can go on from there -- what constitutes genius? Takes nothing away from the majesty of Stones/Jagger/Richards or Beatles/Lennon/McCartney and so on. Anyway, as much as I love Brian Wilson I'd say it is Sly who revolutionized popular music post 1968 than any other figure. Well put James Brown in the sentence.

Regardless, such a sad tale, With Brian Wilson you have redemption. Last I saw Sly he looked like he'd come out of a coma. Smoking crack in a beat up trailer or something. After "Fresh", a wonderful record, virtually nothing. But that burst, particularly "Stand," "Riot", and "Fresh" and the singles and the live act -- that incredible live act -- are as good as anything is.

Saw him touring "Riot" and he showed! 3 hours late. Transcendant performance.

"Blood is thicker than mud...."

after fresh he has i think 5 more studio albums before 1984

By virtually nothing I was trying to say virtually nothing of consequence. I owned most of those LPs and they pretty much didn't bear multiple listens. Certainly relative to the records I mentioned.

I know he also did some decent sessions with Bobby Womack and P Funk.

Quote
Wry Cooter

Quote
keefriffhard4life

Quote
Wry Cooter

Quote
stupidguy2
I believe there are two two geniuses in the rock and roll era: Brian Wilson and Sylvester Stewart. The kind of genius and madness that generates true magic.
Not surprising that they are also the most tragic in many ways.

I agree with this -- you could add Hendrix and we can go on from there -- what constitutes genius? Takes nothing away from the majesty of Stones/Jagger/Richards or Beatles/Lennon/McCartney and so on. Anyway, as much as I love Brian Wilson I'd say it is Sly who revolutionized popular music post 1968 than any other figure. Well put James Brown in the sentence.

Regardless, such a sad tale, With Brian Wilson you have redemption. Last I saw Sly he looked like he'd come out of a coma. Smoking crack in a beat up trailer or something. After "Fresh", a wonderful record, virtually nothing. But that burst, particularly "Stand," "Riot", and "Fresh" and the singles and the live act -- that incredible live act -- are as good as anything is.

Saw him touring "Riot" and he showed! 3 hours late. Transcendant performance.

"Blood is thicker than mud...."

after fresh he has i think 5 more studio albums before 1984

By virtually nothing I was trying to say virtually nothing of consequence. I owned most of those LPs and they pretty much didn't bear multiple listens. Certainly relative to the records I mentioned.

I know he also did some decent sessions with Bobby Womack and P Funk.

oh ok. i got it now. i think between those 5 albums you can make 2 really great 40 minute albums

I didn't want to do another OT thread, though I think she is deserving. Cynthia Robinson was the coolest chick that ever picked up a trumpet.

---

Cynthia Robinson of Sly & the Family Stone Dead at 69

Trumpeter Cynthia Robinson performs with The Family Stone at The Greek Theatre on May 24, 2014 in Los Angeles, Calif.
Earl Gibson III/WireImage

She was the voice that commanded us to "get up and dance to the music," and the woman who Sly Stone put "on the throne" in the Family Stone hit "Dance to the Music."

But that voice has been quieted with the death of Sly and the Family Stone trumpeter, vocalist and co-founder Cynthia Robinson on Monday (Nov. 23) at the age of 69, according to her Facebook page.

Robinson's cancer diagnosis was announced in October on her Facebook page, along with the establishment of the Cynthia Robinson Cancer Care Fund. Robinson herself posted a message of thanks "to everyone who has donated. Love you all!" at the time, and the fund is remaining active "due to the rising medical costs," with a Facebook page staying active "in her memory."

Robinson was one of the first female black trumpeters to gain notoriety in a major recording act, and saxophonist Jerry Martini tells Billboard that she should never be considered a background figure. "She covered a lot of ground," he says. "She was the first female trumpet player and the first African-American trumpet player in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She wasn't in the back. She was out front telling you to get up and dance to the music, and she could blow with the best of 'em, always."

The Sacramento-born Robinson's roots ran deep in blues and R&B. She told Family Stone biographer Joel Selvin, "I used to hear all these guys on 78s at my mother's when I was a teenager...I used to daydream that I was onstage playing the solos; I'm playing with B.B. King and I'm playing with Lowell Fulsom, Jimmy McCracklin. And I literally ended up being in a band that backed them up at different clubs. It was like a dream come true, but that was as big as I could dream."

Robinson joined Stone -- who dubbed her "one of the best trumpeters in the world" -- in his Sly and the Stoners band in 1966 and stayed on board as he crafted the pop/rock/R&B synthesis that became the Family Stone. After the group's dissolution in 1975 she went on to play with bassist Larry Graham's Graham Central Station and also worked with George Clinton, Prince and as part of Sinbad's Aruba Summer Soul Festival. Since 2006 she's been part of the Family Stone with Martini and drummer Gregg Errico. The group also features her daughter with Sly Stone, Sylvette Phunne Stone, a singer and multi-instrumentalist in her own right. (Robinson had one other daughter, Laura Marie).

Robinson also sang lead vocals with her daughter on the Family Stone single "Do Yo Dance," which came out this year.

Funeral and memorial arrangements have not yet been announced.

Full article:
[www.billboard.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-11-25 16:07 by latebloomer.